Keye was not paying as much attention to Taryn as he should have been...or as he wanted to, even. He was a little preoccupied, because he was running out of decent clothes to wear next time he went out with her (he just couldn't look as ratty as he usually did), and they were running out of movies, and he was very, very tired, and he'd seen this movie before and was on the verge of nodding off.
He blinked sleepily, shooting a glance at her, wondering if the movie was as hypnotically boring to her as it was to him.

Taryn has a childlike ability to lose herself utterly in any movie that she's watching, no matter what it is. This makes the interesting ones more interesting, the scary ones more scary, and the poorly made or boring ones at least entertaining, so that she doesn't notice time passing.

But it's... rather late. So she's wanting to lean over on Keye and close her eyes, because that would be... nice. Yes. Nice.

But she doesn't want to move first. Because what if he didn't want her to distract him from the movie?

A glance at him, surreptitiously. He didn't look like he would be opposed to something distracting. But...

She swayed towards him, slightly, and sighed nearly inaudibly.

Keye, as has been noted, is not the smoothest guy ever. He met her swaying with a little surge of alarm, flinching away.
Then, Oops.
He blinked again and moved back to his previous position, trying not to make it too obvious that he was staring at her out of the corners of his eyes. What did she mean by that, what was he supposed to do? A very slight expression (not even enough to be an expression, more like a...'dusting', if you will) of distress began to settle on his face.

Put your arm around her, Keye.

Except there was the whole bit where he flinched away, and she looked confused and ever so slightly hurt, and withdrew, leaning on the arm of the seat. Away from him.

Oops. Guess he didn't want her to lean on him or anything.

Oh, damnit, now she was leaning away, and...was it just him, or did she look a little upset? He bit his lip, fidgeting with his hands in his lap, and shooting frequent sideways glances at her. He didn't feel so sleepy anymore, just somewhat worried.
Crap. Crap, what did I do? What do I do now?
Then he too sighed, frustrated with himself.

Don't be worried, Keye, she isn't mad.

Just confused and not sure what she's doing right or wrong or whether she's just making a big mistake period. Anyway. Aren't boys supposed to sneak their arms around girls in movies?

That's what they do in, well, movies.

Taryn doesn't have any experience of her own to draw upon, so...

A glance at him, then her attention was back on the movie.

Keye was thinking along the same lines, but he was thinking of how dreadfully rude it would be.
Isn't dating supposed to be enjoyable? Because this wasn't fun, this constant worrying about what to do next and whether it would be right.
Keye worries too much.

Well...she wasn't looking at him right now. If he pretended to be looking the other way--he did so--and reached for his soda and missed...
He could end up brushing his fingers against her arm and making it seem like an accident. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
How very eighth-grade of him.

It could be worse. He could be very sixth-grade, and still snickering at the mention of the planet with sideways rings.

Or is that third-grade?

Anyway.

Taryn got a delicious sort of shivery trembly feeling when he actually started to do something, no matter how eighth grade it might be. The corners of her mouth quirked up, but she didn't move.

Also? What would be rude is if he grabbed her breast.

He does, you know.

Hm. Well. She didn't look upset.
So he just sort of...left his hand there, his fingers curled loosely around her forearm.

... why doesn't that surprise me? At all?

And... Taryn's hand crept over and tentatively settled on his. Tentative out of shyness and not wishing to appear too forward, not out of uncertainty that that was what she wanted to do.

His hand (embarrassingly) trembled even harder when she touched it, but he clasped it in return. His mouth twitched into a smile, but he continued to avoid looking at her.

And it's probably safe to guess that they remained like this for the remainder of the movie. It could have been worse; it could have been an entirely fruitless evening...

At the end of the movie, Taryn squeezed Keye's hand and started to let go and get up.

He followed suit, letting his hand drop to his side limply. He finally looked straight at Taryn, grinning a little strainedly.
"G...good movie, huh?"

Taryn shrugged.

"I dunno. Seemed kinda... stuck, sometimes. Acting was bad."

So was the pacing, and the scripting, and... but Taryn doesn't comment on that.

Aw. He was supposed to keep hold of her hand. Silly boy.

"Was it?"
He hadn't been paying any attention, and he'd slept through the last time.
"I, um, well..."
Well, that topic of conversation fell a little flat.
"D...d'y'want t'walk home or...or bus or cab or what?" He asks that every time, by the way.
Maybe if she says walk he'll hold her hand again. The thought brings a feeling comprised equally of 'fizziness' and nausea.

Shivery.

It's dark.

But walking home with Keye should be safe, right? He wouldn't let anything happen to her, after all...

"Walk."

Yes. Walk. In the dark where there could be just anybody...

No. Safe. Because of Keye.

He beamed and took her hand again, setting off in the direction of Keaton. There. That wasn't so hard.
And of course he won't let anything happen to her.

Prove it, lovey. Because here comes the 'anything' in question now.

He's big. He's burly. He has a grand total of ten brain cells. His name is unimportant, and anyway I haven't time to make up one. He's also sneaking along behind Keye and Taryn, waiting for them to get somewhere there's less light.

Taryn doesn't see him. But she's scared enough in darkness that it really doesn't matter...

She draws close to Keye and almost clings to him. Hiding.

"Something wrong?" he murmured to her, sliding a protective arm over her shoulders and wondering at how natural it felt.
It was at about this point that they passed into an area, about a block, where the streetlamps had gone out for whatever reason. Keye, knowing that they were vulnerable (and being rather paranoid) kept his ears and eyes open for any sign of trouble.

She shrugged and snuggled into his arm as best she could while still walking.

"'s dark, 's all."

Her heartrate's gone up rather alarmingly since they left the protective glow of the streetlights.

Shuffle, shuffle. Here comes big, burly, nameless mugger. How nice of them to walk right where he had the least worries about being seen...

Shuffle?
Keye tensed, and maneuvered Taryn so that she was walking in front of him, so that he was between her and whoever was behind them. It's probably just a random guy, probably, but he won't take chances. He turned around to face the man.
"Hey, Jackass, fuck off."

What a good name. Thank you, Keye.

Jackass stopped and scowled, because they weren't supposed to realize he was there...

And then he figured out that with the element of surprise lost, all there was left to do was... jump 'em. Which he did. Jump Keye, anyway.

Taryn gave a little scream and darted back against a wall, trembling.

Keye was ready for that. He took the attack full-force to his chest, and then he was biting, kicking, punching, scratching, and screaming profanities (some of them in foreign languages, that he'd picked up from Alexander).

Alexander would be so proud. Sniff.

Jackass was not--ow--expecting the skinny--ow--boy with the weird hair to be this--Ow!

That hurts, Keye. Meanie.

Of course, he hits back, when he can, but he's slightly less wild about it than Keye is.

And Taryn? Taryn's trying to decide whether she should run away or whether it'd be safer to stay here or if she should try to help Keye, but that wouldn't work, because she'd get in the way and probably get hurt and then Keye would have two people to worry about, not like he didn't already and...

He's bigger than Keye, which is why the scarecrow man is trying to give him as few openings as possible...hence his rather frenzied behavior.
And then, when a well-placed punch knocked him backward, he pulled that knife again.

Eeee, knife.

Taryn spots the glint of metal and her eyes are very, very wide, and she slides down the wall and hugs her knees.

Jackass sees the knife and decides that maybe this wasn't as easy as he thought it'd be, because the point of attacking them is that it was supposed to be easy.

He starts to back off.

Well, there are problems with trying to attack a guy who was once rather similar to Jackass.
He advanced as the other retreated, his face twisted into an expression of pure malice (he hurt all over, but he could worry about that later).

Taryn watches.

... she thinks she prefers this kind of thing in movies. It's not real people being hurt, not people she knows, not people she knows turning into something she doesn't, for a while.

Jackass backs off further, and then, in a moment of pure cowardice, turns and runs.

Fraidy-cat.

He flipped the knife shut and returned it to his pocket, allowing his shoulders to slump with exhaustion.
He turned to Taryn and, although he knew the guy hadn't gotten anywhere near her, asked "Are you okay?"

She nodded, then shook her head, and shivered, and didn't get up.

Taryn is very scared at the moment, and not just of Jackass, either. She didn't recognize Keye for a moment, there.

He took his glasses off (he had to dislodge them from that now reopened cut on his nose, which is sticky, and--ow) and squatted down in front of Taryn, frowning.
"Taryn, I...he's gone now. It's okay."

She shook her head a little.

"'s not okay. What if he comes back?"

And what if Keye is even scarier when/if Jackass returns? (Which he isn't going to; Keye chased him off pretty thoroughly.)

Keye, this is your cue to hold her until she stops trembling.

"He won't." he said it with the utmost confidence. People just don't come back after they've had a run-in with Keye Tomlinson. "I think he figured out that if he did, he'd regret it." His voice was harsh. He did not appreciate that jackass scaring his g--uh, Taryn.
Shakily, he reached forward, touching her shoulder.
"Relax, okay? I won't let anything happen."

Still shivering, she nodded.

"If you say so."

She doesn't want you to touch her shoulder, Keye, she wants you to wrap your arms around her and keep her safe from everything.

Keye doesn't know that, now does he? Besides, he's too shy, and too thickheaded to take a hint. Instead he tugged at her sleeve.
"Come away from that wall, it's cold."

Keye's thickheadedness is going to get him in biiiiiiig trouble someday, you know that, right?

Taryn shrugs a little.

"Dun care 'bout cold."

She doesn't, though she is cold. More from fear than anything else.

Warm her up, hey, Keye?

Keye, not to belabor the point about his thickheadedness, could not understand why she was so very frightened, when the man hadn't come anywhere near her.
"Come on, Taryn." his voice held mingled frustration and worry. "You can't sit here all night."
He gripped her shoulders gently and pulled her forward, towards him. He was actually trying to get her to come away from the wall and get up, but it could be interpreted as what he should be doing.

Taryn didn't need any more cue than that.

She nearly flung herself forward, into his chest, and buried her face in his shoulder, huddled up against him and trembling... and crying. Because now there's a shoulder there, and that's what shoulders are for.

Keye stiffened, his eyes going wide. What was she...?
Oh. Oh.
Then he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"Shhh. It's okay now."

Yes. Oh.

Taryn shook her head against him and didn't answer and didn't stop crying and didn't move for a good long time. And even when she did stop crying, she just relaxed against him and stayed put.

... what? It's cold out. Sort of. I mean, it's cooler than it is in daytime.

Eh heh.